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When they’re not holding your groceries, you may have noticed: brown paper bags are a lovely color and form an interesting wrinkled texture the paper retains even after it is smoothed. To capitalize on both of these properties, you might consider putting these bags to good use when you’re at a loss as to what to do with a bleak leather wall. Rely on the ancient art form of decoupage – the practice of gluing paper onto a surface, then covering it with glue – to transform a drab wall into a focal point that turns heads in admiration.

1

Tear with your hands and cut with scissors an assortment of paper bags into pieces of relatively the same size but different shapes. For example, the edges of some pieces may be rather straight while other pieces may be very jagged and irregular.

2

Crumple these pieces and place them in a pile. Then flatten the pieces with your hand and spread them on the floor in front of you. You are not needlessly creating more work for yourself; you are creating lines in the paper that are visible even after you glue the brown paper pieces to the wall.

3

Arrange the brown paper pieces on the floor in the manner in which you wish to place them on the wall, taking care to create a floor “diagram” of roughly the same size as the wall. Place the pieces in a haphazard manner, overlapping ends to create an interesting visual picture.

4

Place some of the glue-like decoupage medium into a plastic container. Divide the wall into 3-foot-square sections mentally or with a pencil. Then apply a liberal amount of decoupage medium onto one quadrant of the wall with a paintbrush.

5

Follow your floor diagram and begin placing the brown paper bag pieces to one section of the wall, gently smoothing out the pieces with your hand.

6

Give the glue about five minutes to set. Then secure the brown paper bag pieces by rolling over them with the brayer, which looks like and serves a similar purpose to a kitchen rolling pin.

7

Finish the other sections of the wall in the same manner: applying the brown paper bag pieces, flattening them with your hand and then securing them to the wall with the brayer.

8

Readjust shifting or drooping pieces with additional decoupage medium. Overlapping pieces of brown paper may need extra attention, so don’t feel daunted by the challenge. If necessary, hold a clean cotton rag over pieces that slide and shift for several minutes until they affix to the wall.

9

Accentuate some of the lines in the paper pieces – created after you crumpled the bags – by tracing them with pleasing accent colors, such as burnt umber, burnt sienna, dark walnut or chestnut, if you like. Remember that less is more, so be conservative with the paint. You can always add more paint lines after assessing your work. For all reasons, practice this step on scrap pieces of paper before applying paint to the wall.

10

Shave any jagged paper pieces with scissors, a utility knife or a razor blade. Apply at least two coats of decoupage medium to seal the wall. An optional third coat provides additional sheen.

Things You Will Need

Paper bags

Scissors

Decoupage medium

Plastic container

Paintbrush

Brayer

Clean cotton rag

Acrylic paint, optional

Utility knife or razor blade

About the Author

With education, health care and small business marketing as her core interests, M.T. Wroblewski has penned pieces for Woman's Day, Family Circle, Ladies Home Journal and many newspapers and magazines. She holds a master's degree in journalism from Northern Illinois University.